Welcome Home
by twouble
Summary: Mr Padfoot and Mr Prongs would like to welcome Mr Moony home. Oneshot. Sirius & James meet Remus on the other side... R&R!


**A/N: Ah, totally inspired by an icon found here;**

**http://community. **

**I squeed when I saw it, out loud. And had to write this. Enjoy!**

Remus opened his eyes. He wasn't sure where he was, but he was certain he was lying down. A hand appeared above him, he took it and was hauled his feet. He looked into the face of his aid and did a double take.

"J…James?" His friend nodded, smiling, and pulled him into a brotherly hug.

"Never thought I'd miss your ugly mug, Moony." He laughed and released his friend. Remus looked around, confused, unsure of where he was, what this place was. And why was James there? James was dead.

"But we both did. Unfortunate really, seeing as you were a bit busy. Knocking up my cousin." Remus stared up at his friend, his laughing face looking younger than he remembered it, the lines around his eyes no longer prominent, he no longer bore the strain of a man who had lost almost everything. He looked at home, happy, content. But he was dead too. They both were. Sirius looked at James ominously. "He's confused."

"He is, Padfoot." James smiled and forced Remus into a chair, sitting opposite him. Sirius lay on across a sofa. Remus looked around. He recognised this room, the more he thought about it, the more he remembered it. He'd been here before. More than once. The pictures on the wall looked familiar, this chair felt as though he had sat in it before. Suddenly he realised.

"This is your mum's living room."

"It is. Very fine choice of room to enter in actually, Sirius appeared in the bedroom. Interrupted me and Lily. Highly embarrassing. Didn't apologise either, of course."

"He didn't?"

"Bit busy swearing." Remus laughed and then, very suddenly. He stopped. His memory came flooding back. He had been duelling with Dolohov and now, now he was here. With James. With Sirius. And Lily was around somewhere. And they were dead. All of them. Dead. And he'd been duelling with Dolohov. It suddenly dawned on him. Dolohov had sent the killing curse at him. He was dead.

He wasn't sure what to do now, how to react. He wanted to cry, how could he be dead? What about Dora? What about Teddy? Little Teddy, who wouldn't understand that his daddy was gone. He reached into his pocket for the picture that had been inside. Neither James nor Sirius spoke while he stared at it. He felt empty. His tears dripped onto it as they rolled down his cheek and he made no effort to prevent them. He'd left his son behind, his little boy. But they were here. James, Sirius. His best friends. And hadn't he missed them? But it seemed selfish to be happy, so he settled for an emotionless state. Just staring at the photo, not really there, not really whole, wondering if Teddy was awake, if he understood he was gone, wondering what was happening to his wife, to his friends, to everyone he'd left behind. He felt James' hand on his shoulder, Sirius pretended to be interested in a magazine that had been discarded.

"It gets easier. I miss Harry every day, but it does get easier. Is that him?" He reached out for the picture and Remus handed him it. James smiled. It wasn't a sympathetic smile, it wasn't even half hearted. It was a real, solid, genuine smile. He looked proud. "Looks like his dad, poor git." Remus laughed, but Sirius, who had given up the pretence, scowled. James rolled his eyes. "Give it up Sirius, even if you were alive you couldn't have stopped them getting married."

"Could've." He mumbled moodily.

"We would've just lived in sin." Remus smirked, laughing slightly, it felt good to be back here, with his old friends, and even though there was a hint of guilt floating in the back of his mind, he tried to enjoy it. "Quite the flirt, my Dora." James roared with laughter and Sirius glared again.

"Padfoot, forget it. You're just jealous everyone's getting some but you."

"Well, seeing as I was in Azkaban for twelve years it was hardly easy to get my leg over." James handed the photograph back to Remus, who pocketed it and leaned back in the chair, finding comfort there, remembering all the summer afternoons they had spent lazing in this room, concocting plans for their next year at school, laughing and joking, so unaware of what lay ahead, like lambs in spring, blissfully unaware of the fate that awaited them. He watched James spring himself across the room and land on the sofa beside Sirius with a thud, kicking him lightly, they had a brief play fight that aided Remus' memories of summers long gone by. James sat up, the triumphant victor, and looked over at Remus.

"He gets miserable sometimes. Doesn't half feel sorry for himself. Just need a bit more fun, don't you?"

"Shut up Prongs." But he was smiling, there was laughter in his voice. He picked himself up of the ground and walked over to Remus, he gave him a brotherly hug to mimic James' and sat on the arm of his chair. "Let me see this new cousin of mine then."

"He's not your cousin, which is quite fortunate for him." Remus handed Sirius the picture and he smiled, from the look on his face, Remus was certain that Sirius would have cooed over baby Teddy, just as he had once done over Harry. Guilt filled him again. He'd left Harry behind too, he was there, fighting a war that wasn't his in the making, it was too much, far too much for a seventeen year old to face. All alone. Teddy was alone too, would he grow up like Harry had? Not knowing who he was? Or would Dora tell him about his father? Would she read him stories, tuck him in at night, and tell him that his daddy loved him, would she teach him to look to the moon, would Teddy know the truth about his father? Or would it be a secret, never to be revealed?

He felt a pair of soft arms wrap themselves around him and turned to see Lily smiling at him. "Hello you."

"Lily!" He pulled her into a strong embrace. He had always missed James and Sirius, always, but he had never quite realised how much he missed Lily, and seeing her here almost made him forget all that was weighing on his mind. James called out a request for Remus to put his wife down and eventually Remus did so.

"I'll get you a drink, hot chocolate, I think." She kissed his cheek, and kissed James' to stop him getting jealous, and retreated to the kitchen. Sirius handed the picture back to Remus and clapped him on the back. James smiled at him from across the room.

"Moony?"

"Mm?"

"Welcome home."

**A/N: Okay, that was quite short, um, well, shorter than I intended, I might end up editing & extending it actually. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading, reviews would be **_**very**_** much appreciated!**


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